Why I'm not "just" a brand consultant

When I decided to leave my corporate job, I only had a vague plan to pick up my moonlit brand consulting business. I began thinking about the types of businesses and brands I’d worked with over the years and studied which clients were my favorites and why. I didn’t have enough data points so I took on more clients of varying sorts.

In working with new clients over the past few months, most of whom are launching or have launched new businesses, I’ve identified a huge gap: The missing piece between quitting your day job and doing the thing you’re called to do, and it centers around self-discovery and wellness.

Now, in case you didn’t know, I’m a career brand strategist. I’ve worked with companies like Coca Cola, P&G, and the California Tourism Board. I’ve helped launch YouTube channels for moguls like Michelle Phan and Amy Poehler. I’ve been graced with fantastic mentors like Patrick Hanlon, Founder of Thinktopia and author of Primal Branding along the way. I know what it takes to build a brand, or better — a community of raving fans around a product or service. There’s no questioning my expertise or experience in this area, and the idea to build my business around this area of expertise seemed like such an obvious move. Right?

The problem with simply launching a brand consulting business is that I’d need clients with products or services to work with — and I realized that’s not who I’m called to helping right now. I found that instead I’m drawn to helping women like myself. Those who lead a respectable, traditional, career-driven life with entrepreneurial or artistic tendencies.

I help the women who are pre-start-up, Pre-business. Pre-quitting their 9-5.

I help the woman who’s already launched her business but is staring at her computer screen wondering why she’s not feeling any of the success she deserves.

You see, the very thing women are trying to escape in their day jobs is often what has left them exhausted and full of self-doubt. I’ve worked with “successful” entrepreneurs who’ve told me some variation of, “I’m not the new me I had in mind.”

Without self-love, confidence, and a plan for sustainability they will never truly feel successful in their business.

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With the gig economy growing rapidly, and women feeling more empowered than ever before, there is a massively underserved market of business-driven women who don’t quite know how to take that first step.

They think they need a business coach (I did), which will probably be a big waste of money because they’re not quite there yet. What they do need is a success coach — a guru, an advocate, an accountability partner. They need a network of other women to show them what’s possible and to cheer them on as they improve and repair various facets of their lives:

physical well-being

healthy relationships (to people and to things)

parenting responsibilities

skill development and networking

That’s why I’m building a coaching business to help career-driven women bridge the gap between where they are now and what they’re capable of building. I help women:

gain clarity on what they want and why

develop realistic action plans to work toward self-empowerment

And if they’re ready to rock their business — guess what? I help them build their brand and connect them with the next set of experts they’ll need to launch.

I’ve joined forces with a certified wellness coach to develop a curriculum for women to bridge the space between being a whole woman and a business owner. Together, we’re able to super-serve a community of women through 1:1 coaching, group workshops, and online programs.

But wait, there’s more! The part of this mission I’m most excited about will come later this year. I’m working with yet another inspirational female business owner to open the physical manifestation of this community — a beautiful shared workspace for women of all types to support each other, to learn, and to make cool shit. Much more on this later.

The journey from corporate employee to solopreneur to business owner is messy at times. But documenting the process and the inflection points along the way is important. This is how inspiration transpires. This is how a new normal is made. Thank you again for being here.